Crash
by DarkestWolfx
Summary: Gordon had always loved the water. So when the hydrofoil speedboat crashed, he crashed too. And it took his family to help him see that he hadn't been wrecked, just damaged.


Just something for Gordon this time. I still (and always will) love Alan's character to pieces, but I want to write something for all of the Tracy brothers and their patriarch, so this is the first of those intentions.

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He'd always loved the outdoors, always loved water. It was almost as though he was a fish that had been thrown out of it, especially when he was younger as you could hardly keep him from it. Tracy island was the perfect home; private pool, surrounded by the sea. For Gordon, there were no complaints about their father's choice.

So when he made his own choice, of course it was going to involve water.

He was one of the fastest freestyle swimmers, he was an Olympic champion, and an excellent oceanographer, so there was no way his choice couldn't.

WASP it was perfect for him and he couldn't have been a more perfect candidate.

He loved that job so much. Spending every day out in the water, doing what he loved. Yet the time he worked there ended far too soon and it ended in the most unimaginable and horrible of ways. A way that took away his (all be it flippant) sense of humour for quite some time, and saw him abandon many of his favourite past times like chess, fishing and playing the guitar all in the name of shutting himself away and believing he was aiding his recovery, even though some sensible part of him knew he was doing the exact opposite.

An event that led him to see the darkest and worst days of his life.

To this day he could never tell you quite what happened, because he didn't fully know and at the time it hadn't exactly been his main worry.

Returning to the mainland - or waking on the mainland rather - was one of the hardest things he faced in his life. It was a time full of fear and worry for all of the family, although Gordon didn't see it from their perspective until he had recovered enough to understand he wasn't the only one suffering, even though he was the only one to face it physically.

He made his apologies. They didn't and still never have seemed to match up in Gordon's head to what he should have said, to what he needed to say for all the snapping and grumpy days. His family had of course forgiven him without expecting apologies of any sort and without asking, because that was what they did, how they worked.

His back was an everlasting memory and as he couldn't live very well without it, it was a memory that would have to stay.

Some mornings he woke up with a stabbing pain and thus the bite of a crocodile or silence of a bat. Sometimes it left his brothers walking on thin ice around him or standing on a million mines waiting to explode at even the smallest things or the kindest gestures. Even the simple, "Are you alright?" or "How's your back?" could be a trigger on bad days and Gordon despised how he could barely control his temper at times.

The worst times, were when he saw the hurt looks that only Alan could give - which showed he was the most sensitive of the family - and even though he perfectly understood the reasons why his direct elder was yelling at him, it didn't stop it from hurting. Or Scott's slightly offended move away when he yelled at the eldest for smothering him too much when all he did was enquire if he wanted anything. He hated how when John came down from Five he couldn't always offer a happy face or smile in greeting, no matter how much he may want to. He hated Virgil's fussing just because he was the only medic on the island and kept a very careful eye on him for that reason, not to mention because he was one of the younger family members.

But most of all, he hated the way his father was calm throughout. He never shouted at him on a bad day, never said a negative word or gave him a warning glance meaning he was pushing too far, he just waited. Waited until he was willing to come out with a problem or to settle down on his own.

He loved his family dearly, always had and always would, but another thing he loved was how they put up with him; day , day out, his sense of humour, his bad days, everything.

They were what brought him through. The Tracy family. The Tracy family and everything they stood for, International Rescue, the Thunderbirds, saving lives.

Saving his life, and telling him (even by saying nothing) that it was still worth living.

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Thank you for reading. I hope to have some multi-chapter stories up soon too.

Also does anyone want this made into a multi chapter story, or one derived from it? I'm not sure whether I want to leave it or not as a one-shot or not, so opinions are more than welcome.


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